Rosemary HipkinsNew Zealand Council for Educational Research

Key Competencies: Challenges Key Competencies: Challenges for implementation in a school for implementation in a school

curriculumcurriculum

Presentation to Onslow College: November 2006

R Hipkins21.11.06

The draft curriculum’s biggest challenge?The draft curriculum’s biggest challenge?

• While the New Zealand Curriculum sets the national direction for learning for all students, each school will design and implement its own curriculum in ways that will engage and motivate its particular students. Schools have considerable freedom in deciding exactly how to do this. (Designing a curriculum. pg. 26)

How should schools go about responsibility and responsively exercising this freedom?

If the new curriculum “sets the national direction for learning” where exactly do we want to take our school and why?

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Why we need to rethink curriculumWhy we need to rethink curriculum

• Rapid growth of knowledge and changes in the way it is disseminated – “lifelong learning”

• Knowing seen as an activity not a ‘thing’.

• Preparing for participation in a global economy.

• Identity issues/managing diversity/stress levels.

• Connectivity (a focus on shifting networks, complexity, dynamic systems etc).

If school doesn’t give our young people the tools to cope with these changes and challenges, who will?

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Key competencies are seen as Key competencies are seen as central to curriculum revisioncentral to curriculum revision

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Where did the KCs come from? Where did the KCs come from?

DeSeCo (OECD)

Functioning in socially heterogenous groups

Acting autonomously

Using tools interactively

New Zealand Curriculum

Relating to othersParticipating and contributing

Managing self

Using language, symbols and text

Thinking

THINKING

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Aren’t these dressed up Essential Skills?Aren’t these dressed up Essential Skills?

• Holistic - integrate knowledge, skills, attitudes and values.

• Demonstrated in authentic contexts and in interaction with others.

• Demonstrated when we adapt the competency to use appropriately in a new setting.

• Consistent with situated and socio-cultural views of learning.

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The “we already do that” challengeThe “we already do that” challenge

“A lot of what the key competencies and you describe is done or attempted to be done already in schools. Of course how well and for what purpose is all a bit of a grey area when teachers have really been focused on their area of expertise”.Comment from a secondary advisor, CMP on-line

The key competencies seem so familiar - yet is there “something more”?

How do they relate to the many initiatives already being undertaken in schools?

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“I am struggling to get my head around the way the key competency 'Thinking' is articulated in the draft.

Thinking in itself means little and is something we all do (some well some not so well - remember when your teacher told you to think harder and you were already thinking as hard as you could - he/she should have said think differently or what is another strategy we could use).

It should be the management of our thinking processes or strategies that is the desired competency. (Comment posted on CMP on-line)

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““Something more” in the thinking KC?Something more” in the thinking KC?

• Active practice in cognitively challenging tasks;

• Learning a variety of thinking patterns and skills;

• Opportunities to transfer thinking skills from one context into different contexts;

• Specific feedback on progress in use of thinking tools and approaches;

• Freedom to think and learn from mistakes.

Gaining language tools to think about thinking;

Zohar and Schwartzer, 2005

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Source: Jamie Mckenzie http://fno.org/dec05/writing.html

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Thinking issues and challengesThinking issues and challenges

• Metacognition is an important (new) emphasis

• “Thinking” can potentially be integrated with every other key competency - metacognition is important to all of them

• “Embodied” thinking is important - the brain is no less biological than the rest of the body

• Thinking dispositions need to be fostered - you have to want to do it!

• There is no substitute for practice - no one else can do your thinking for you.

You have to think about something - content matters!

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Do we have to teach the KCs?Do we have to teach the KCs?

• Yes! They should be integrated into the curriculum (and across the curriculum)

• While they need a distinct focus from time to time, they also integrate with each other!

1. Think about how you do or could integrate an explicit aspect of “thinking” as a competency (not just a skill) into one curriculum area.

2. Does the school have, or is it developing, a shared language for discussing thinking across curriculum areas?

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ULST – is more than literacy and numeracyULST – is more than literacy and numeracy

Symbols are created for different purposes and in different genres

Symbols go together in meaning Symbols go together in meaning making making systemssystems

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Why do the arrows go that way?

What do they actually represent?

Who said they had to be like that?

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Verbal media

• Print/word based

• Linked to sound

• Words follow in a temporal sequence

• Sequencing implies cause/effect logic

• Words must be “filled with” meaning”

• Writing conveys the message, images ‘illustrate”

Visual media

• Screen/image based

• Linked to vision

• Images appear simultaneously

• Open to different sequences of reading

• Images already relatively full of meaning

• Writing is one (usually minor) part of message

Gilbert, 2005; Kress, 2003

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Integrating ULST with other KCs/knowledgeIntegrating ULST with other KCs/knowledge

Senate Business and Professions Committee April 24, 2000

Senator Hayden presents actual photos of Radiation entering an Adult Brain, as well as the Brain of a 5-year-old child:

The depth of penetration is markedly more in the child than the adult.

Proving radiation from cell phones penetrates the human brain.

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Views of curriculum ‘knowledge’ are changingViews of curriculum ‘knowledge’ are changing

Meta-knowledge is..

• knowing how different knowledge areas ‘work’;

• knowing the sorts of assumptions that underpin each knowledge area;

• knowing how experts generate, justify and communicate new knowledge in specific knowledge areas.

The emphasis is on using knowledge, not just “getting” it

This is NOT to say that “knowledge doesn’t matter

any more”

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Implementation challengesImplementation challenges

• Research with ‘early adopter’ schools shows this is the least easily understood KC, and the one with most variability of interpretation in practice.

For curriculum teams:

What types of texts do we use in our curriculum area?

How explicit are we in discussing their features in relation to the nature of our discipline area?

What (if any) guidance does the draft curriculum provide in our learning area?

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Participating and contributingParticipating and contributing

Knowledge in the knowledge era:

is something active we use;

develops in teams;

is situated - develops in context;

develops to be replaced, not stored.

This is often associated with advocacy for “authentic learning” or “inquiry learning” but care is needed when determining what this will mean for your students/school

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‘‘Authenticity’ brings curriculum challenges Authenticity’ brings curriculum challenges

Educational researchers define authenticity as meaningful at both the personal and the societal level (Hipkins, 2006)

There are implications for curriculum ownership.

How does this ‘fit’ with the learning areas/content of the draft curriculum?

How does it fit with NCEA ‘messages’?

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What sort of knowledge is needed for What sort of knowledge is needed for

‘authentic’ participation?‘authentic’ participation?

www.dorkinglabs.com/ fim_popup.php?id=39&title...

How do we help students learn for an interconnected world?

What does it take to become an informed and active citizen?

Philosopher Bruno Latour distinguishes between ‘matters of fact’ and ‘matters of concern’

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Participation as school “citizenship”Participation as school “citizenship”

Citizenship education is prone to somewhat contradictory impulses. On the one hand the justification for its development rests on the need for greater participation in order to strengthen democratic structures and processes further; on the other hand, citizens are perceived as subjects to be moulded to state authority. … The citizen is free and not free at the same time. Davies and Issitt 2005. How does this tension play out in schools? How can contradictory aspects be balanced for a successful life in a well functioning society?

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Some curriculum areas/initiatives already Some curriculum areas/initiatives already had this participatory focushad this participatory focus

• Action competence (Health, PE, home economics)

• Action/reflection cycle (All arts subjects - dance, drama, music, visual arts)

• Technology design and implement process

• Education for Enterprise

• Environmental Education

Can we get this focus into all curriculum subjects?

What are the implications for the ways curriculum is organised and delivered?

Should extracurricular activities “carry” this focus?

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Student involvement in Student involvement in assessmentassessment as as authentic participationauthentic participation

Students as:

• informants on assessment contexts

• collectors of evidence

• assessment task designers

• evaluators of evidence

Assessment as inquiry... What does it mean to know?

Delandshere, 2002

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Advantages of greater student involvement Advantages of greater student involvement in assessmentin assessment

• Consistent with development of dispositions for lifelong learning.

• Consistent with focus on metacognition and self regulated learning.

• Consistent with intent of all five key competencies (potentially allows for integration).

• Potentially makes a space for better assessment of collective work.

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Relating to others - just co-operative learning?Relating to others - just co-operative learning?

• The competence is not just about social skills (although they are important enablers)

Research shows group tasks with built-in cognitive and metacognitive challenges enhance achievement

e.g. Karmarski, 2004

What strategy/ principle/tactic can be used to solve the problem?

What is the same and what is different about this new task?

Is the result reasonable?

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Relating to others to build new knowledgeRelating to others to build new knowledge

There are ways of knowing as a group that are not the same as individual knowing.

(e.g. arts performances, teamwork in sports)

In the “knowledge era” new knowledge is constructed in interpersonal spaces to which people bring different ways of knowing - a sort of cognitive teamwork.

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““Managing self” is not just about behaviourManaging self” is not just about behaviour

Engagement

• behavioural - aim is increasing autonomy

• motivational/emotional - linking learning to effort

• metacognitive - aim is self-regulated learning (SRL)

Identity

• knowing who you are and how to “be” in specific contexts

• knowing (and acting on) strengths and weaknesses as a learner

The idea of a “learning career” integrates identity and engagement Ecclestone and Pryor, 2003

You have to want to be a ‘lifelong learner’

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Autonomy isn’t just “doing it by yourself”Autonomy isn’t just “doing it by yourself”

Children left to work alone too often are likely to become more passive and dependent on the teacher.

Bullock and Muschamp, 2006

What teachers do is important

4 stages of SRLObservation Imitation Self-control Self-regulation

Zimmerman and Kitsantas, 1997

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Increasing learning “fitness” Increasing learning “fitness”

Physical fitness coach• Designing a programme

for a starting level • Coaching on safe use of

fitness equipment• Setting targets that

challege but don’t risk physical injury

• Supporting while encouraging taking responsibility for own fitness programmes

• Being a role model

Learning fitness coach• Designing a programme

for a starting level• Teaching specific types of

thinking tools • Setting learning goals that

challenge without being too discouraging

• Supporting and encouraging regular practice

• Supporting while encouraging taking responsibility for own fitness programmes

• Being a role modelSource: Claxton, 2003: Gilbert 2005

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A new challenge for managing selfA new challenge for managing self

“In the new online forms of communication, the standard model of individuality is long gone. People routinely use Internet communities (chat rooms, online games and so on) to play with their identity, to construct and reconstruct themselves in ways that have very little to do with their real world, real-time bodies” (Gilbert, 2005, p.117).

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Metacognition and screen-based Metacognition and screen-based identitiesidentities

i mean, i’d have whole new typing styles for people, like if i were trying to trick someone i knew into thinking i was some-one else, i’d type a lot differently than i do normally. a person’s typing style can give them away like a voice does.

As another person I might capitalize my I’s and I’d use full, proper sentences instead of fragments. I probably would not use the word “like” and ellipses wouldn’t show up often, if at all.

OR, if i decided to be somebody else, i might type like my cousin and numerous other teenyboppers out there… HeY!wUtz uP wit U?? Lol

Thomas, 2004

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Traditional content New knowledge

No risk High risk

Learner Development

Learner Transformation

Generic skills Learning to “be”

Learning for an unknown futureLearning for an unknown future

After Barnett, 2004

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High risk

Learner Transformation

“Open ontologies for an unknown future”

Learning to “be”Learning to “be”

After Barnett, 2004

Dispositions for an unknown future:

•Carefulness •Thoughtfulness •Humility •Criticality •Receptiveness •Resilience •Courage•Stillness

What would curriculum look like if we saw the development of these dispositions as a highly valued outcome of school learning?

In what ways might this be transformative?

Why is this high risk?

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Open ontologies Open ontologies for an unknown futurefor an unknown future

Ontology: Where “being” and “reality” meet

Examples of open ontologies: Wikipedia, Google, TradeMe (trader profiles) Amazon (book reviews) etc.

How do we help our students prepare for a world where anyone can contribute to knowledge building?

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Making space in a crowded curriculumMaking space in a crowded curriculum

If there are truly fundamental principles in science, then the extended study of any few topics in science will eventually bring students into contact with those principles. (And if not, then they were not really so fundamental, were they?) Jay Lemke, 2005

I believe there is an urgent need to address the “so what” question when retaining traditional “content”.

Do we need to reduce content in our curriculum area?If yes, what principles should we use to decide how to go about this?

R Hipkins21.11.06

The draft curriculum’s biggest challenge?The draft curriculum’s biggest challenge?

• While the New Zealand Curriculum sets the national direction for learning for all students, each school will design and implement its own curriculum in ways that will engage and motivate its particular students. Schools have considerable freedom in deciding exactly how to do this. (Designing a curriculum. pg. 26)

How should schools go about responsibility and responsively exercising this freedom?

If the new curriculum “sets the national direction for learning” where exactly do we want to take our school and why?

R Hipkins21.11.06

References (1)References (1)Bullock, K., & Muschamp, Y. (2006). Learning about learning in the primary school. Cambridge Journal of Education, 36 (1), 49-62.

Claxton, G. (2003). Building up young people's learning power. Is it possible? Is it desirable? And can we do it? Paper presented at the conference Educating for the 21st Century: Rethinking educational outcomes we want for young New Zealanders, Wellington, New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

Davies, I., & Issitt, J. (2005). Reflections on citizenship education in Australia, Canada and England. Comparative Education, 41 (4), 389-410.

Delandshere, G. (2002). Assessment as inquiry. Teachers College Record, 104 (7), 1461-1484.

Ecclestone, K., & Pryor, J. (2003). 'Learning careers' or 'assessment careers'? The impact of assessment systems on learning. British Educational Research Journal, 29 (4), 471-488.

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References (2)References (2)Gilbert, J. (2005). Catching the Knowledge Wave? The Knowledge Society and the future of education. Wellington: NZCER Press.

Karmarski, B. (2004). Making sense of graphs: does metacognitive instruction make a difference on students' mathematical conceptions or alternative conceptions? Learning and Instruction, 14, 593-619.

Kress, G. (2003). Literacy in the New Media Age. London and New York: Routledge.

Lemke, J. (2005). Research for the future of science education: New ways of learning, new ways of living. Opening plenary at VIIth International Congress on Research in Science Teaching, Granada, Spain http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jaylemke/papers/Granada%20Future%20Science%20Education.htm.

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References (3)References (3)

Rychen, D., & Salganik, L. (Eds.). (2003). Key competencies for a successful life and a well-functioning society. Cambridge, MA, USA: Hogrefe and Huber.

Thomas, A. (2004). Digital Literacies of the Cybergirl. E-Learning, 1 (3), 358-382. http://www.wwwords.co.uk/elea/content/pdfs/351/issue351_353.asp.

Zimmerman, B., & Kitsantas, A. (1997). Developmental phases in self-regulation: Shifting from process to outcome goals. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89 (1), 29-36.

Zohar, A., & Schwartzer, N. (2005). Assessing teachers' pedagogical knowledge in the context of teaching higher order thinking. International Journal of Science Education, 27, 1595-1620.